US dollar hits eight-month high

New York, Nov 24 (IANS) The US dollar soared to an eight-month high as remarks by a Federal Reserve official bolstered market expectation for an interest-rate hike by year-end.

In the late New York trading on Monday, the euro fell to $1.0623 from $1.0649 in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to $1.5119 from $1.5195 in the previous session, Xinhua reported.

The Australian dollar declined to $0.7186 from $0. 7236.

The US dollar bought 122.81 Japanese yen, lower than 122.88 yen of the previous session.

The US dollar rose to 1.0193 Swiss francs from 1.0189 Swiss francs, and it went up to 1.3374 Canadian dollars from 1.3341 Canadian dollars.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams said during the weekend that there is a "strong case" for the Fed to raise rates when policymakers meet next month.

The greenback was firmly supported by his words. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.23 percent at 99.794 in late trading, the highest level in eight months.

On the economic front, US existing-home sales in October were at a healthy pace but failed to keep up with September’s jump, according to the National Association of Realtors on Monday.

Total existing-home sales fell 3.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million in October from 5.55 million in September.

Despite last month’s decline, sales are still 3.9 percent above a year ago.